With Monday’s trade deadline in the NHL fast approaching, Sporting News offers advice to three teams who should be hitting the market in search of talent that will get them to the next level.

NEW YORK RANGERS

Being on top of the Eastern Conference this late in the season means that GM Glen Sather has the luxury of knowing that New York will make the playoffs regardless of what he does between now and Monday. That does not mean he should stand pat.

The Rangers’ championship window has opened a year sooner than expected, meaning that the Blueshirts should have three legitimate shots at the Stanley Cup with their current group before several core players—Ryan Callahan, Marian Gaborik, Dan Girardi and Henrik Lundqvist—become unrestricted free agents in the summer of 2014.

MORE TRADE DEADLINE

To make the most of the opportunity, the Rangers need another bona-fide scorer. The Rangers are 13th in the NHL in goals, and only three teams in the past 30 years have won the Cup after finishing outside the top 10 in regular-season scoring: the 1983 Islanders, 1995 Devils and 2003 Devils.

The buzz around the Rangers leading up to the trade deadline has focused on Rick Nash, as well it should. New York has the salary cap flexibility to absorb the Columbus Blue Jackets star’s $7.8 million annual hit, and enough prospects to make a big trade without completely mortgaging the future.

Although a New York Post report on Thursday said that the Rangers were so far “unwilling” to part with Tim Erixon, who has played 13 NHL games but spent most of his first season in North America with Connecticut of the AHL, the 20-year-old defenseman should not be the stumbling block to a deal. At 27, Girardi is the oldest of New York’s top four defensemen, while Marc Staal is signed through 2015 and Michael Del Zotto and Ryan McDonagh still are on their entry-level deals.

If Columbus demands more than the Rangers are willing to give up, Sather should seek other options to bring another scorer to New York and fortify the Rangers’ chances to win their first Cup since 1994. The call that he should make is to Dallas general manager Joe Nieuwendyk, asking for Michael Ryder.

At age 31, Ryder is signed through next season with a $3.5 million cap hit and scored eight goals during the Boston Bruins’ run to the Cup last year. Given the similarities in style between last year’s Bruins and this year’s Rangers, as well as Ryder’s copious playoff experience, it would be a good fit.

LOS ANGELES KINGS

No team in the NHL has scored fewer goals than the Kings’ woeful tally of 129 in 61 games. The addition of Jeff Carter in a trade with the Columbus Blue Jackets on Thursday night should be enough to get Los Angeles to the playoffs, but more offensive help is still required for the Kings to be the Cup contenders they were widely thought at the beginning of the season.

With the addition of Carter, who rejoins his former Philadelphia Flyers teammate Mike Richards in Los Angeles, the three best forwards on the Kings’ roster are centers. Carter, Richards and Anze Kopitar also take up a ton of salary cap space, a combined $17.8 million until Kopitar hits unrestricted free agency in the summer of 2016.

The ideal acquisition for the Kings would be a rental winger such as Ales Hemsky from the Edmonton Oilers or Alex Semin from the Washington Capitals. Cap space for the remainder of this season is a roadblock, though—according to capgeek.com, Los Angeles can only afford to add $2.6 million at the deadline.

One idea that the Kings and Capitals may want to consider would be a swap of Semin and Dustin Penner, both pending free agents with a $2.45 million difference between their current cap hits. Semin has scored a total of 44 goals since his 40-goal campaign in 2009-10, while Penner has found the back of the net only seven times in 63 games for the Kings since coming over at last year’s trade deadline from Edmonton, where he had been a reliable 20-goal man. Both players could use the change of scenery as they try to build their value for free agency, while the Kings would benefit from Semin’s pure scoring touch and the Capitals from Penner’s size.

TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS

The chances for a first playoff berth since the lockout are looking more tenuous by the day in Toronto, with the main problem being keeping the puck out of the net. Goaltending is an issue, but pulling the plug on James Reimer’s development would be a mistake. The 23-year-old netminder has the talent to be an NHL star, but needs more time to get there and better defense in front of him.

It is upgrading that defense that should be Brian Burke’s main focus this weekend, especially on the penalty kill, where Toronto ranks next-to-last in the league with a 76.7 percent success rate. The Maple Leafs’ objective should be to find someone who can help them reach the playoffs now to provide the boost that the organization needs, while still maintaining the financial flexibility that comes with having only seven players signed beyond next season.

The temptation may be to go for a sexy name, but the players who should draw the most interest from the Maple Leafs are defenseman such as the Ducks’ Toni Lydman and the Oilers’ Ladislav Smid, both signed through next season, or the Kings’ Willie Mitchell, who is a free agent this summer. All three players are in the top 15 in shorthanded ice time per game for teams that are solid on the penalty kill. Mitchell, though, should be unavailable with the Kings having dealt Jack Johnson for Carter.

In an Eastern Conference race where eighth place has been treated like plutonium for the better part of February, one upgrade on defense could be all it takes for the Maple Leafs to return to the playoffs. The big moves, the ones that will allow Toronto to really think about a first Cup since 1967, can come later, as Reimer reaches his prime and the Leafs have more salary cap flexibility.